Revenge
by Prawn Crackers
Summary: Jess has an enemy who tries to destroy her career and her life. Will Becker be able to save her in time?
1. Chapter 1

So this is my very first story. Please let me know, what you think about it. Thank you for reading this.

A big, big thank you goes to the lovely **YouHaveLovelyHair** for beta-reading this!

**Chapter 1  
><strong> 

The room was dark and only sparsely furnished. A table and chair in the centre, and old chest of drawers next to the door and a bed shoved up against the wall. All the pieces of furniture were second hand and did not match. Yet they were impeccably clean. The bed was neatly made and there was not a single grain of dust in the entire room. There was no carpet, no curtains. Nothing to make the room appear cosy. The walls showed signs of humidity. A small window near the ceiling let in what little light the late afternoon had to offer.

Someone sat at the table in front of a laptop, slightly hunched over. After a few keys were pressed, a video started playing. It showed a young woman in a coral blouse. She wore her hair tied back in a neat bun and pink flower earrings. She was sitting at a desk, smiling. There was a man present in the room who asked her a question: "Why do you think you got so far in this selection process, Miss Parker?"

Jess slightly drew herself up to a more straight position and smiled confidently: "Why? Because I am the best team coordinator you are going to find." 

The video froze right there. "You are going to pay for this, bitch!" the figure in front of the laptop hissed in a low voice, full of venom.

oOo

"Nemicolopterus!"

"Connor, honestly, I don't care! I just spent the better part of my afternoon chasing this bloody...""Nemicolopterus!" Connor repeated with a grin. "...fine!" Becker rolled his eyes. "Next time you go and...just a second."

Becker pulled the black ARC-vehicle onto the kerb and jumped out of it.

"Where are you going mate?" Connor stretched in the passenger's seat and turned his head. He had just seen Becker disappear through the doors of a little shop. Connor grinned again. No doubt, the Captain was buying some chocolate bars right now for their field coordinator.

oOo

After a very slow and quiet morning, there were two alerts at the ARC in short succession. Just when everybody was ready to leave for lunch. When the alarm blasted for the first time, Jess sighed, turned around and rushed back to the ADD, instead of heading over to the menagerie to share her lunch break with Abby. She was barely back on her chair, when the alert went OFF again to indicate a second anomaly. Jess remained calm and focussed. It was not the first time she handled the coordination of two field teams simultaneously.

The first anomaly took place at the British Dental Museum. Although there was no incursion on site, and the anomaly itself occurred in the tiny office of the museum's curator, there was a rather large group of elderly German tourists wondering why there were armed men showing up all of a sudden. Matt tried in vain to calm the excited and somewhat scared group of tourists. They simply did not understand a word of what he said. They did not speak English, none of them. When Matt realised what was going on, he put his phone on loudspeaker and let Jess explain to them in German, that a boa constrictor was on the loose and that the men were armed with tranquilliser guns to stun and catch it. And if they all could leave the building now in an orderly fashion, bitte schön.

Once the Germans had sufficiently calmed down and were ready to leave the building, Jess immediately switched monitors and guided Connor, Becker and his men through Hyde Park, to the southern end of the Serpentine. When Becker and Connor arrived there, they found the golden light of the anomaly shining between the yellow leaves of the park's trees near the water. The rowing boats had already been tucked away as were the deck chairs. Only very few people frequented the paths, mostly joggers who braved the rain of an early November day. Becker and Connor carefully approached the open anomaly. The incursion consisted of a dozen rather small creatures sitting on the branches of the nearby trees. They had beautiful green and blue wings and a red beak. One of them took off and landed on a park bench.

"Connor, how do we get those back through were they came from? One false move and they fly off into central London!" Connor pondered the situation for a moment. "These creatures are from the early Cretaceous. They are Nomicoloptera, harmless little tree dwellers. They subsist on insects...Jess, any idea were we find a sufficient amount of insects quickly?"

Jess tapped into the CCTV feed and pulled up the images from Hyde Park. "I have spotted an angler sitting further up the Serpentine, about 300 yards away from your current position. From what I can see, he is fishing with live bait."

Becker lifted an eye brow and smirked. Then he turned around slowly so the flock of Nemicoloptera would not get agitated. He told one of his soldiers to get the live bait from the angler. Once they got the box containing the worms, Connor took one out, slowly walked towards the anomaly and gently placed the worm on the grass. Then he stepped back. The Nemicoloptera were watching him closely. They seemed to be quite curious about their new whereabouts and checked out every detail of their environment. Finally, one of them flew down, stretched its neck and prodded the worm with its beak. Apparently, it liked what it saw and quickly ate the worm. Then it looked back at Connor. This time, Connor threw a worm towards the Nemicolopterus on the ground. It landed next to it and the little creature moved in to eat another of those seemingly delicious treats. Only to find one of the other Nemicoloptera rushing down and snatching the worm off the ground right in front of it. Connor grabbed a handful of worms and threw them again. This time, all the Nemicoloptera participated in the feeding. Becker smirked again. The whole scene looked quite surreal. Connor at the park, feeding little dinosaurs instead of pigeons.

"OK, Becker, get ready to close the anomaly. I will throw the next fistful of worms through the opening and hopefully, they will all follow." As soon as Becker signalled that he was ready, Connor launched a handful of worms through the anomaly and the entire swarm excitedly followed and disappeared through the shining portal. Becker immediately closed the anomaly and rubbed his neck. Then he froze.

"Damn, Connor, one of them is still here!" Adamant to check out Hyde Park, one of the winged dinosaurs took off from the bench and flew towards the southern end of the park. Becker and Connor both sprinted after it, cursing under their breath. The Nemicolopterus soared elegantly out of the park and traversed the nearby streets, still followed by Becker, Connor and the group of soldiers

When the dinosaur finally landed, it sat on the gate of the French embassy. "Oh no! You will not go in there" Becker said in a low tone of voice. "Connor, once it gets inside, we can't follow it. Do you still have some worms left?" "Here mate." Becker took the remaining worms, placed them on his open palm and slowly approached the little Nemicolopterus. "Come on, little one, be a good boy and come here." The dinosaur spread its colourful wings and launched itself towards the Captain, but instead of landing on his palm, it opted for his head and landed on Becker's impeccably combed hair where his claws got entangled. Becker hissed in surprise, but held very still. Eventually, Connor was able to get the Nemicolopterus out of Becker's hair and put it in a box that one of the soldiers handed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the delay in updating. I try to be quicker in the future (...sounds like a great New Year's resolution!)

Primeval belongs to its rightful owners and, sadly, I am not one of them. If I was, there would be a sixth series airing soon, with Becker shirtless. Lots of shirtless Becker! So, with that wonderful thought in my head, I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

Back at the ARC, Connor went straight to the menagerie, where he found Abby at her desk filling out some paperwork. She stretched in her chair and rubbed her palm over her belly „God, this is not normal! I could eat all the time! Just filling out the order for the mammoth's food supplies, is making me hungry again!" Connor kissed her and pulled her into a hug. „Abby, you're _pregnant_, it is good to eat regularly." „Yeah, but I don't want to become the size of our mammoth" she grumbled, „what's in the box, Connor?" „We brought you a little stray back from Hyde Park" Abby carefully lifted the lid with the air holes. The little dinosaur perked up its head. The trip through time and space did not seem to have spooked it much. Abby gently took the little critter out of the container and, with a quick look at Connor, said „Tell me more…" Due to the pregnancy, she was not working on the field team for the moment and did miss the thrill and adrenaline of the missions. Over the years, she had become so used to reacting instantly to any anomaly alert that she automatically jumped up and started running towards the hub earlier this day, realising only when she reached the door of the menagerie that she was not going to be part of that mission.

Jess took a deep breath and walked back to the ADD, just when the lift door opened and Becker walked out. „Hey, you're back", she greeted him with a smile" „Ah, Captain Becker, finally!" the voice of Lester cut in from behind. „Would you care to explain what in God's name you and Temple were thinking! I just got off the phone with his Excellency, the French Ambassador. He was not amused at all. He demanded…" Interrupted by his ringing phone, Lester took a quick look at the display and grumbled „Great, now I will have to explain your little adventure to the minister". He disappeared into his office in a huff.

„Don't worry, Becker, there is no diplomatic crisis under way". Jess grinned. „It seems that Lester has found his match when it comes to sarcasm." Intrigued by her words, Becker lifted an eyebrow and looked at her with a curious expression on his face. „Lester told his Excellency that you were a team of specialists trying to catch a very special, rare bird that had previously escaped from the royal aviary. After which the Ambassador apparently expressed his interest in a personal membership of said aviary, so he could arrange a private visit in order to have a look at such a precious, rare bird." The corners of Jess' mouth went up slightly. „Lester was furious", she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Just then, her belly started to rumble loudly. Becker pulled a chocolate bar out of one of the many pockets of his tactical-vest and placed it discreetly near one of the keyboards of the ADD. „Becker, you are my hero!" She stopped and blushed „ I mean, with the two anomalies and Lester in need of some cover stories afterwards, I had to skip lunch…and someone had plundered the secret cookie jar in the break room."

„A secret cookie jar, Jess?" Becker looked at her with an amused glint in his hazel eyes. Jess could have sworn that the Captain's eyes showed some amber freckles whenever he was amused. She was spared a reply by the arrival of Emily. „Hey, how did the test go?" „I did it!, I passed!" Emily proudly waved her new driver's licence in front of Becker and Jess. „Brilliant! I knew you would pass right away!" Jess gave her friend a hug. „Thank you, Jess. I am looking forward to driving, perhaps during the next field mission, I will drive the ARC vehicle." Emily stated with confidence. Becker started coughing. Emily turned her head towards him „By the way, what happened to your hair, Becker?" The Captain folded his arms in front of his chest and rolled his eyes. "Excuse me, I'll be at the armoury...got work to do!" He pushed himself off the desk and crossed the hub with long strides. Emily turned towards Jess again "I 'll go find Matt. I promised him to let him know right away about the outcome of the test. He seemed to be worried about the outcome earlier today."

Now that she was alone at the ADD, Jess turned her attention back to the chocolate bar. She examined the plain white wrapping with black writing on it, then carefully opened the paper, broke off a large piece and put it into her mouth. She closed her eyes for a moment and enjoyed the delicious combination of flavours on her tongue. There was the bitter sweet aroma of the dark chocolate mixed with the smooth, rich taste of caramel cream and the luscious figs. It felt like a piece of powerful, intense, edible poetry. Under its dark, mysterious surface, the chocolate hid a firework of sensations, gentle and passionate at the same time. Becker never ceased to surprise her with his unusual choices. The last time it was a mix of cherry and chilli. Buying her chocolate was not something Becker did on a regular basis. Just every now and then. She never saw it coming and was surprised every time. Well, not quite as much as the very first time, when she asked Matt who forgot. Becker didn't and showed up with chocolate. And gave it to her. She could never bring herself to eat that particular bar. Instead, she tucked it away safely in her night table. It just would have felt wrong to eat it. As if doing so would have destroyed the magic of the moment she cherished in her memory.

Jess smiled. If Becker knew, he would no doubt tease her mercilessly about it. Since the "beetle incident" a few month ago, Becker had become more approachable. He seemed to be less tense around her and smiled more. And she was less nervous in his presence and was even able to control her rambling a little more. Their relationship still had its awkward moments, when she talked too much and he too little. But in general, they both felt comfortable in each other's company. They met for lunch regularly now, sometimes with the other team members, sometimes just the two of them. And Becker had promised to give her some archery lessons when...

"...those files from the "Piccadilly Circus" anomaly that are most urgently required. Miss Parker? Miss Parker!" Jess instantly snapped out of her day dream and focussed on Lester who stood next to her chair with a somewhat impatient expression on his face. "Right, I'll see to that immediately. The "Piccadilly Circus" anomaly, you said sir?" "Yes, I need those papers in fifteen minutes for my next meeting." Jess stood up and quickly moved towards the exit to get to the storage room where the old mission reports were filed. The cheerful click clack of her electric blue high heels resounded through the corridor. Jess entered the required code at the storage room door and waited. Nothing happened. She frowned slightly. That was odd. Was there a glitch in the programme? She made a mental note to check that later. Jess re-entered the code. This time, the device started blinking. _Incorrect code_ the display read. "Oh, come on!" She typed the sequence of numbers for the third time. _Access denied_ the screen read. "What?" Jess started to feel a little annoyed. Something was definitely wrong here. She knew she had entered the correct code every single time. Turning around on her heels, she rushed back to the ADD. After all, she could fix this easily. Her security clearance enabled her to override the safety code from her work station.

Jess hurried down the corridor again. She took a deep breath and entered the new code for the door. The device beeped and a green light indicated that she could enter the storage room now. "Finally!" The FCO was running late and knew that Lester was already in a bad mood. She walked through the door into a small and dark room that contained nothing but metal shelves filled with boxes. Jess turned to the shelf where the oldest mission reports were stored. She opened the box and searched its content. Then she looked at the label on the outside of the box again. It was the correct box, so why was the file not in here? All the other files that belonged there were in the box. The "Piccadilly Circus" file was missing. Jess tried to suppress the rising feeling of stress and took a couple of deep breaths. The files were organised by dates, a very simple and easy archive system. Somebody must have misplaced the file she was looking for. Jess took down the box next to the one the file was supposed to be in and checked its content. Then she proceeded with the next box. And the one after that.

An hour and twenty minutes later, Jess had searched twice every single box of the storage cabinet. She finally had to admit to a very furious James Lester that the "Piccadilly Circus" file had disappeared.

XXX

So there you go. Thanks for reading this. I hope you liked it. Reviews are appreciated and welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

So much for my formidable New Year's resolution about updating quicker...

But here it is, finally. Thank you for your patience and all your kind reviews!

Some of you have noticed and pointed out that in chapter 2 my initial speech marks were down instead of up. Thanks for telling me. I think I have fixed the problem now and tamed them.

A special thanks goes to the lovely **YouHaveLovelyHair **for her beta-reading of this chapter.

**Chapter 3  
><strong>

Captain Becker sat in front of the surveillance camera screens, slowly running his hand over the stubble on his chin. Everything was quiet at the ARC and people went on with their daily business.

Monitor one showed him the mammoth in the menagerie peacefully grazing on an enormous stack of hay. On two, he saw Connor in his lab, apparently discussing complicated mathematical formulas on a piece of paper with a young techie, Sam Beresford. Connor had taken the rather shy and quiet kid under his wings since the moment Sam had started working at the ARC. The two of them were gesticulating and pointing over and over at one of the long and complicated formulas. Math must be a beautiful thing, Becker thought, by the enthusiastic look on their faces.

Monitors 3 and 5 showed empty corridors. 4 showed Jess at the ADD, looking a little paler than normal. On 6, a caretaker was about to open one of the spare offices on the third floor with a key.

Becker looked at monitor 4 again. Maybe it was the black and white footage that made Jess look more tired and tense than normal. She was typing on her keyboard. Her forehead furrowed a little while she stared at one of her monitors. She seemed to be worried about something she saw there. Becker decided to check on her later. He remembered the day before, when he approached Ops and heard Lester's angry voice shouting at her. Everybody heard it.

Then, when they all met at the pub later that evening to celebrate Emily's newly acquired driver's license, Jess had been unusually silent and lost in thought. And left rather early. It was just after the second round of drinks, when Connor caught Abby yawning surreptitiously. He put an arm around her shoulders and suggested that they go home. He tried not to make too big a fuss about the pregnancy, but Becker could tell that Connor was fighting the urge to act like an overprotecting mother-hen. Maybe it was for the sake of Connor's worries, or maybe it was indeed because she was tired that Abby gave in and said goodbye to their friends. Jess, who was still sharing her apartment with them, volunteered to drive them home. She gave Becker a little smile, and then walked through the door. He smiled back from the bar where he was waiting to order another round for himself, Emily and Matt.

He had regretted that Jess had left so early. Not that Matt and Emily were not fine and enjoyable company. Becker was surprised to find himself actually enjoying talking to both of them. He still remembered all too well how they had driven him completely crazy as Head of Security with their disobedience and unruliness. And how he eventually came to appreciate them as friends and trust them.

During his career in the army and as a SAS-officer, Becker had not had many female co-workers. The ARC seemed to harbour a special kind of woman.

There was Abby. Determined and tough. She was a fighter just like himself. And Becker had to admit that in order to survive a year in the Cretaceous, she and Connor must have developed the instincts of predators. He somehow doubted that "a clear chain of command" would have been all that useful for the survival of the pair.

There was Emily. Fiercely independent. A lady who was not to be told what to do. Emily opposed him openly and disobeyed direct orders, a behaviour that Becker found highly irritating. But she also was a caring friend. She was the one to remain calm and focussed when he was about to lose his nerves with Jess starting to be delirious in the car and then losing consciousness while he was holding her in his arms.

And then there was Jess. Not openly confrontational like Emily or bossy like Abby. Sweet and gentle in appearance, Jess had managed to disarm him completely. In about 10 seconds. In high heels. When he was told to report to a certain Parker, Becker expected to meet a grumpy old soldier with a booming voice. Someone shouting commands and barking orders. Some bloke with grey hair and a weathered, leathery face. Someone who looked like Sir Alex Ferguson.

Then he heard a pleasant, clear voice say "Captain Becker, welcome to the ARC" and when he turned around, a pretty brunette smiled at him and held out her dainty hand. He allowed himself to look her over with one long, incredulous glance from the tips of her pink high heels over her long, perfectly shaped legs, her rather short skirt, and bright green top to finally settle on her sparkling blue eyes. He somehow managed to school his features and carry on a halfway normal conversation with her.

Over the coming weeks he got to appreciate her professional skills, her sharp mind and quick analysis of complex problems. His initial surprise about her unusual appearance and age was replaced by a growing sense of trust and respect. Becker learned how capable Jess Parker was at her job. He also learned how obstinate the Field Co-ordinator could be. How very brave as well. And sometimes simultaneously, like the night she crashed his stake out with some tasty food, convinced him to let her in the car _disobeyed a direct_ _order_ , followed by sneaking into an obscure room, then finally defused a bomb while he helplessly watched. Jess Parker, at your service... That night, Becker realised for the first time, how much he cared for Jess.

Becker heard the door open and straightened in his chair.' His replacement entered the surveillance room, precisely on time. Becker gave a quick nod to Private Terry and, after a short briefing, he left for the armoury. The new EMD chargers were due to arrive today. The last batch had to be returned as they all were dysfunctional and made the EMD blow up instead of charging them. Becker wanted to have this sorted quickly. The field teams were depending on fully functioning weapons when facing adverse and possibly lethal situations.

Lance Corporal Frank Lampard, however, had bad news for the Captain. Becker learned that the delivery of EMD chargers had not taken place. Lampard had gone to the loading bay in person at 9 o'clock in the morning to supervise the reception of the ordered equipment. Two hours later, he was still waiting to no avail and decided to return to the armoury and inform his Captain about the missing chargers.

~oOo~

Becker crossed Ops and walked up to the ADD where Jess was completely absorbed in her work. She wore a pleaded grey skirt with a lilac blouse and a long silver necklace. Her hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. He stopped right next to her chair and put his hand on the back of it.

"Everything ok, Jess?"

She looked up and turned her head towards him. "Shoot me, please!"

Becker's brows shot up in surprise. "That bad? What is wrong?"

Jess started to rub her forehead. "I thought yesterday was bad... Remember Matt asked me to order that special soil for his Triassic plants. Apparently, they require extra-acid soil. It seems that I have screwed up the order a he received 200 bags of extra-alkaline soil. And now the supplier is making a big fuss about swopping the order, making us wait 2 weeks and pay an extra fee. The problem is that Matt's plants will not survive that long without the proper soil. "

Becker did not really know much about plants. He couldn't tell the difference between a weed and a prize-winner from the Chelsea Flower Show most of the time. Actually, often he thought the weeds were much prettier. So he just shrugged helplessly and tried to say something comforting to Jess

"I am sure you can sort it out."

"There is also the fact that all of the ARC's computers are currently infected with a virus that makes them work at the speed of a lame snail. It is impossible to work like that. And people are angry and keep phoning me about it. It will take me at least several hours to fix the problem, and that's if I am lucky. Also, Lester's order of single malt was due to be delivered this morning, but so far is a no-show. Anyway, what can I do for you, Becker?"

Jess stretched in her chair and tried not to look too distressed. Becker shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other and rubbed his neck.

"Jess, we have a problem with a missing delivery. The new EMD-chargers were due to be delivered this morning, but have not arrived."

Jess checked the inventory log of the incoming supplies. "Ah, here we go." She brought up a delivery note.

"According to this note, the two boxes of EMD-chargers were delivered this morning at 9:04."

"What the hell?" Becker leaned over and studied the document carefully. "Lampard waited for 2 hours but nobody showed up. Who did this, Jess? Who signed this delivery note?"

Jess scrolled down to the end of the paper and stared in shock at the screen. The document bore her own signature.

"Becker, I didn't..."

Before she could finish her phrase, an ear-splitting commotion arose from a nearby corridor. Glass was breaking, people were shouting and screaming and a thundering roar emerged. There was a tremor spreading through Ops as if something very heavy was moving very fast banging against the walls.

Without hesitation, Becker ran towards the origin of the noise. He crossed the main room and sprinted down a long corridor. He heard Abby scream, then her scream suddenly stopped. When Becker turned around the corner, he saw the mammoth running down the corridor, fleeing in sheer panic.

Abby was lying on her side on the floor . She was unconscious and bleeding from several wounds. Her arms were covering her belly in a protective gesture.

XXX

Not a good day at the ARC! And poor Abby, what have I done to you…

Please let me know what you think. Your reviews are highly appreciated and help me improve my story.


	4. Chapter 4

Apologies to Abby Maitland. I left her unconscious for far too long...so here is, finally, the sequel.

Many thanks go to the **lovely lady YHLY** for her beta-reading. You are awesome!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

_Abby was lying on her side on the floor. She was unconscious and bleeding from several wounds. Her arms were covering her belly in a protective gesture_.

Becker started running down the corridor towards his unconscious friend, pressing his comms and alerting the Field Co-ordinator.

"Jess, we need medics in corridor 3F immediately. It's Abby. Hurry!"

"Abby!"

From the other side of the corridor, Connor sped towards his fiancée. He reached her just before Becker did, fell to his knees and tried to pull her up in a tight hug, when Becker made him stop by putting a hand on his arm.

"Don't mate! She might have spinal injuries. It's best not to move her."

Connor put two fingers on the side of Abby's neck. He could feel her pulse, weakly, but it was there. She had a nasty contusion on the left side of her forehead and her right ankle was swollen and bruised in a garish shade of purple. But what he worried about the most was the bright red spot forming near the crotch of her light grey trousers.

Connor put his shaking hands very, very gently on Abby's cheeks.

"Abby, please! Wake up!" His face was near hers, his voice a hoarse whisper full of his deepest worries. Fear showed in his eyes, fear of losing the woman he loved and their unborn child.

"Becker, did you see what happened to her?"

Becker looked at Connor with a pained expression on his face.

"No, I was too late. I heard her scream but when I got close enough to see, the mammoth was already running away from her."

Becker was crouching next to Connor, watching his two friends in agony. He did not want to leave them, but he was aware that the mammoth was still on the loose, possibly hurting more people in its blind panic. He could hear the commotion of a big heavy body trampling around and voices screaming. He needed to go and make sure the ARC and its people were safe.

Jess' voice came in over the comms.

"Medics are on their way. Please tell me she will be ok!"

"It's too early to say, Jess. Where is the mammoth heading to?"

"It just stopped outside of botanical lab no 3. At the end of corridor 3J"

"Sorry, Connor! I have to get to the mammoth before it hurts anyone else." Becker gave Connor a quick, reassuring clap on his shoulder and rushed off, shouldering his EMD.

Connor remained on his knees next to Abby, desperate for the medics to arrive. He felt completely helpless. Remembering Becker's warning about back injuries, Connor did not dare to move the prone body of Abby. He just kept rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks, begging her to wake up.

They had been through so much together. A year of hardship and fight for survival in the Cretaceous, where their only goal was to make it through the day, and then the night, and then the next day they would start surviving again. All they had were the random bits of civilisation that happened to be in their pockets and bags when they walked through that anomaly. They depended solely on their skills and instincts and their bravery. They struggled and some moments were almost unbearable for them.

Like the day Abby slashed her bare foot on a sharp-edged rock near the river. The wound was deep and bled profusely. Connor had to carry her back to their camp. The bleeding wound left a trace that could lead predators right to their lair. But it was out of the question to change location with Abby being seriously wounded. For the next week, Abby could not support her full weight with her injured foot and any critical situation that would have required her to run or fight undeniably would have turned out to be lethal. And then, the wound got infected. Abby was burning with fever and delirious at times. Connor felt helpless. All he could do was to try to cool the fever down with a wet cool rag. He had nothing to soothe her pain or to treat her infection. Abby had been in a lot of pain then, but she pulled herself together and put on a brave face whenever Connor looked at her.

And somehow, they had managed to pull through. Somehow, Abby's fever fell and she got a little better day by day. When they returned to the present shortly after her recovery, they thought that nothing as bad as that year could possibly ever happen to them again. Hadn't they forged a bond between themselves that nothing and no one could ever shatter?

And then, Connor started working for Philip Burton. Bit by bit, the couple's mutual trust and understanding were replaced by secretiveness, suspicion and mistrust. Convergence happened and when it was almost too late and mankind escaped extinction within a hair's breadth, Abby came to his rescue, saved him from certain death in Matt's grim future time and brought him home. They had fought side by side like in the old days.

And now this! Would it never be over, the pain, the fear?

"Abby, can you hear me, darling?"

Slowly, slowly, she came around.

First there was an almost inaudible sigh escaping her lips. Then he heard her voice

"Connor? Connor?"

"Abby! I am here! Right next to you. I've got you!"

"Connor, it hurts! The baby...I'm bleeding! Oh god, no!" She started to breath very hard.

"Abby, hang in there, please!"

Her hands were still cradling her stomach and Connor moved one of his on top of hers. He whispered soothing words into her ear, trying to calm down his frightened companion, wishing those damn medics would hurry up. And then, after what felt like an eternity but had only been 4 minutes since Jess alerted them, they arrived. After examining her carefully, they moved Abby cautiously onto the gurney and rushed her to medical bay. Connor held on to her hand whilst running alongside the gurney, but once they reached the examination room, he was told by a stern-looking doctor to stay back. He let go of Abby's hand after squeezing it lightly.

"I'll wait right here" he said and tried to remain calm while the doors closed behind her. Connor felt despair and panic creep up from his stomach. "Abby..."

Then he felt a soft touch on his shoulder and turned his head slightly.

"They will do everything they can, Connor" Emily spoke in a low, reassuring tone, trying to hide her own anxiety.

~oOo~

Becker skidded to a halt next to Matt. He started to get seriously annoyed. When he reached botanical lab number 3, the mammoth had managed to unhinge the lab door and rampaged through the facility. It was a large room with multiple entries, chrome worktops, various lab equipment and glass shelves full of vials and bottles full of colourful liquids.

In the middle of the room, leaning against the pristine worktop, stood Hafsa, the ARC's chief botanist next to her assistant Henry. Their faces were white and their eyes enormous, their bodies paralysed from shock.

The mammoth came to a halt only feet away from the pair of them. He swung his trunk angrily and, with one mighty sweep, emptied the content of the nearest shelf onto the previously immaculate, shiny floor. The glass containers shattered and their polychrome liquids formed large puddles.

Becker did not remember all that much from his chemistry lessons in school, but it occurred to him that this mix might end up exploding. Although, luckily enough, there was only a bit of smoke forming above the puddle, that was enough to further irritate the mammoth. The next swing to the other side knocked over a water dispenser containing several gallons. Within seconds the entire floor was wet.

Becker cursed. Now their EMDs were useless entirely. One shot and everybody in the room would be incapacitated by the electrical discharge, including the shooter himself. And for the mammoth to be stunned properly, Becker's EMD was set to medium fire power.

He exchanged a quick look with Matt.

"We need to get them out of here!"

Matt nodded and carefully took one step towards the agitated giant next to the frightened scientists. In a low tone of voice he said: "Ok, Hafsa, Henry, move towards Becker now, very slowly."

They both inched alongside the worktop they were leaning against when suddenly the voice of Sam Beresford resounded through the room.

"Henry, are you there?" His boyish face appeared in the doorframe behind Becker.

The mammoth clearly felt menaced by Sam. He raised his head and let out a mighty trumpeting sound, immediately charging forward. Matt was only able to save himself by jumping onto a lab table, sending glass shards all over the place. At the same time Becker reached out and pulled both Hafsa and her assistant with him around the corner of the other workbench and immediately placed his body between them and the mammoth that thundered by, only inches away.

"Oh crap!" Sam turned around and raced down the corridor with the mammoth on his heels.

"You two, stay here and don't move!" Becker gave the scientists a serious look before dashing out of the door, followed by Matt.

At least he could use his EMD again, now that they were off the wet floor.

Sam was heading straight towards OPS and Becker realised that this was going to end up in a disaster if he could not prevent it from happening. Maybe if they could lure the mammoth into the gym, they could stun him there without too much risk?

"Sam, turn left and try to get to the gym!" Becker yelled.

Sam complied instantly and so did the mammoth following him on his heels. Just when Becker pondered how to get the mammoth through the gym door without causing structural damage to the building, two things happened in short succession. The mammoth passed an area where the corridor was somewhat wider and where several lift doors were lined up on one side. Just then, one of the doors went "ping". The freaked out animal stopped short in its forward movement and turned around, facing Becker now, who raised his EMD and took aim.

In that very moment, James Lester stepped out of the lift.

"Don't move, Sir!" both Becker and Matt yelled.

Lester looked at the two armed men for a moment, then slowly turned his head to see the massive head and body of the mammoth blocking the other side of the corridor. He remained perfectly still, but kept eye contact with the animal the entire time.

Then, something very strange happened. The mammoth blinked once, then put his head slightly to one side and let out a gentle, plaintive sound. The muscles of his enormous back lost some of the tension and the nervous tremor in his ears stopped completely. His frenzy was over as suddenly as it had started. It seemed that the surprising arrival of Lester had sufficed to snap the mammoth out of his rage and return him to his normal stoic self.

As if to acknowledge this fact, the animal raised the end of its trunk a little in a gesture of salute. And Lester, in a similar move, raised his hand to greet back, then said in a soothing tone of voice "I think it is time to go back to the menagerie, Manny."

Manny took the cue and started to slowly trot back towards his normal dwelling.

"If you two would be so kind to lower your weapons and escort our resident mammoth back to his quarters" Lester said dryly to his head of security and team leader who both were stunned by the sudden turn of events.

"I don't pay you to stand there and look pretty!"

Lester's order make Becker and Matt close their open mouths and lower their EMDs immediately. They couldn't quite believe the surreal scene they had just witnessed.

~oOo~

One by one, the team members came down to medical bay to join Connor and Emily in the waiting area. Matt and Becker arrived together from the menagerie, exhausted and tired looking. Becker crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. Matt walked over to Emily

"Any news?"

Emily shook her head silently. Jess and Lester were seated to the left and right of Connor on the other side of the waiting area. Connor sat on with his head down and his elbows on his knees. He looked utterly defeated. Jess had put her hand on Connor's forearm and was talking to him quietly, when the sliding door next to Becker opened and the doctor came through. Six heads turned in his direction and six pair of eyes begged him for information. The doctor was a tall man with reddish short hair and tired-looking eyes. He cleared his voice and then addressed Connor.

"Mister Temple, your fiancée sustained a mild concussion and a fracture of her ankle. She...

"The baby?" Unable to hold back any longer, Connor got up and walked over to the doctor.

"...is alive, Mister Temple."

Everybody in the room sighed with relief.

"The ultrasound images show us a clear and steady foetal heartbeat. However, the situation is still critical. Miss Maitland's massive bleeding is caused by the placenta having partially detached from the uterus wall. If this process stops, there is a good chance that the pregnancy will continue and the baby will be healthy. As long as the baby's heartbeat is fine and movement is noticeable in the ultrasound, there is reason for cautious optimism."

The doctor stopped talking for a moment to make sure Connor was able to take in all the information he was given.

"In order to exclude all extra risks, Miss Maitland will have to observe strict bed-rest and has to remain at the medical station of the ARC for the time being. Miss Maitland is 10 weeks pregnant and due to the fact that she is still in her first trimester, there is no medical treatment against the bleeding. Unfortunately, we are also unable to give her strong medication against the pain caused by her other injuries. That would expose the baby to further risks and could have severe consequences."

"Can I see her now?"

"Yes indeed. Miss Maitland has asked for you. Bear in mind that she is in pain and avoid anything that could cause her any stress."

"Right! ...and thank you, doctor!" With one look back at his team mates and his boss, Connor rushed through the door to finally see Abby.

The atmosphere in the waiting room was somewhat more relaxed now that the team knew that Abby and her baby were not in immediate danger. Emily and Matt shared a quick hug. Jess stepped closer to Becker and smiled while the Captain's shoulders visibly relaxed while he looked down at Jess with a soft expression in his eyes.

In the centre of the room, Lester remained with his hands in his pockets. When he started to speak, it was addressed to no one in particular.

"How the hell did the mammoth get out? And what freaked him out like that?" 

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I have to agree with Lester. How did this happen? It will be revealed in time.<strong>

**Thank you, YHLH, for inspiring me to write the scene between Lester and the mammoth.**

**I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Reviews are always welcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Sorry! I am so sorry that this took me so long! What can I say? Real life stubbornly interfered with my plans of finishing this chapter much sooner. _

_Two things before the chapter starts. Firstly, Primeval is not mine. And secondly, English isnt either. It is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes you find._

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

When Abby woke up the next morning, she had a pounding headache. She slowly opened her eyes, only to shut them tight again immediately. The room at medical bay was very bright. Sunlight came through the window and left bright patterns on the white, bare walls. The sheets and covers on her bed were crisp and snow white. The brightness felt unbearable to Abby. She winced quietly and tried to reopen her lids just a crack.

A dash of comforting, warm orange mixed with the glaring white in her field of vision. Jess bent over her friend's bed wearing a pumpkin-coloured dress, concern showing in her eyes.

"Let me shut the curtains for you, alright?"

She moved over to the window and pulled the curtains shut in one swift move.

"Ah, that is so much better, thanks!" Abby mumbled.

Jess returned to her chair next to Abby's bed where she had spent the last hour. She had promised Connor to stay with Abby for a while so that he could shower and eat something. Unwilling to leave her side, Connor had spent the night sitting in a chair next to his love and he finally drifted off into a light sleep. When Jess arrived early this morning, she found Connor dozing with his head on his forearms next to Abby's belly on the bed.

"How do you feel?"

"My head still hurts. And my ankle is swollen to the size of a giant balloon. But I'm ok. The baby is alive!"

Jess was impressed with Abby's determination to cope with the pain and discomfort and gave her an encouraging smile.

"I brought your IPod and some magazines over from the flat. I also packed a bag with some of your clothes and toiletry, in case you want to put on something more comfy than those horrible hospital gowns". And just in case, there is also a bag of your favourite crisps in there. Just make sure Connor doesn't find them..."

Abby smiled at the thought of that. After a moment of silence, Jess looked at her friend "Abby, do you have any idea what happened yesterday with Manny? You know, we were all wondering why the mammoth was out and in such frenzy."

Jess had watched the footage of Abby's encounter with Manny on one of the feeds of the surveillance cameras. Abby had rushed along the corridor and tried to calm down the very frightened mammoth which was running towards her in panic. She had approached him in the hope of making him stop, but he just kept fleeing and Abby was caught between him and the wall in the narrow corridor. The heavy, massive body rushing by made her lose her balance. Once she started stumbling forward her ankle was caught by one of the trampling feet of the mammoth. Then she was propelled through the air and slammed into the wall with her head.

Although Jess had known about Abby's injuries having seen the images, she still cringed and gasped in shock. To see Manny so out of control and this with one of the humans he was most familiar with was hard for Jess to accept.

Abby looked down at her hands that were rubbing her belly gently.

After taking a deep breath, she spoke quietly.

"You know, I am not used to just sitting around and twiddling my thumbs when there is an emergency situation. At first, I just tried to ignore the alert and stay put."

Jess remained silent, just nodded encouragingly. She knew how much her friend liked to be out in the field. Abby was a fighter, not a pencil pusher.

"Then I realised that the alert was originated in the menagerie. I thought that if one of the animals was hurt or afraid, I could help calm it down. These animals know me. They trust me not to do anything that endangers them! And Becker's soldiers might have scared them with their weapons."

Abby looked up.

"So I left my office and tried to figure out what was going on. I saw that Manny's box was wide open and I heard a commotion from the corridor. I went over there and heard everybody screaming and I just ran towards Manny."

A deep furrow showed on Abby's forehead as she continued.

"Jess, I know Manny! He wouldn't attack me. He wasn't being himself!

"When you were in the menagerie, did you notice anything strange? Anything that was not like it should have been. Anything out of the ordinary? Or anyone acting in a weird way?"

"No, not really. Just that the door of his box stood wide open"

Jess started to regret having brought up this topic and decided not to carry on with her questions. After all, Abby needed to rest and heal and any further questioning about yesterday's events could cause her more stress. Just as Jess was about to change the topic entirely, Abby grabbed her hand. Guilt and fear were now clearly showing on her face.

"Jess, I know, I should have just let security deal with it all. Why couldn't I just let it go? My baby means the world to me! How could I be so stupid to expose the baby and myself to any risk? What if I lost the baby? What if I do lose the baby? I... I just felt such an urge to protect my animals. What kind of mother am I to put my child in danger?"

Abby's breathing became more agitated and tears were streaming down her face. Jess reached out for her friend and pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's all right, Abby. Nothing bad has happened to your baby. Please, stop torturing yourself. Your baby is safe and secure in your womb and will stay there until due date!"

Jess spoke soothingly whilst running her palms in calming circles over Abby's back. After a while, Abby started to relax a little and Jess slowly made the worried mother-to-be lean back into her pillows.

"That's better! Now try and sleep a little."

~oOo~

As Jess walked out of medical bay, a hand reached out and grabbed her by her arm. Connor pulled her away from the door, a couple of steps down the corridor and into a secluded corner. His movements were brisk and he looked agitated.

"Connor, are you alright? What is it? Did something happen?"

Jess was confused as Connor did not let go of her arm. He even tightened his grip on her.

"What the hell were you thinking, Jess?"

Jess frowned "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"You know, to let a creature out of the menagerie once is a stupid mistake. To do it twice...now that is just downright unforgivable! Dumb and careless!

"What?"

Connor let go of her arm, although he did not step back. He stood very close to Jess and looked down on her, barely contained scorn in his eyes.

"Don't you dare deny it! I checked the logs. The door of the mammoth's box was opened from your workstation at the ADD while you were working there. And, as a matter of fact, I do know that this isn't the first time you've let out a dangerous animal. Matt told me how he covered for you after you let out the dracorex.

"Connor, I swear, I didn't unlock the door, not this time!"

He narrowed his eyes "Oh don't give me that!

"But..."

"You realise you could have killed Abby and the baby!" Connor hissed. "You know for someone who works at the ARC and has seen terrible things occurring, your attitude is rather mindless! Are you taking any of this seriously, Jess?"

Connor was still staring down at her, clenching his jaw and tightening his shoulders. Jess had never seen him this furious before. They remained looking at each other for a couple of seconds. Jess, slightly wide eyed, did not know what to say and was feeling still very confused about what had just happened. Finally, Connor shook his head briefly and turned suddenly to walk away from Jess and towards the doors of Abby's room.

Jess turned her head to watch him walk away. She stood there completely motionless for a moment, trying to get a grip on all the emotions that were fighting each other in her head. She felt concern and compassion for Abby, anger and frustration towards Connor. And then, there was something else hiding behind these more obvious feelings. An underlying sense of uneasiness.

Suddenly, the hair in the back of her neck stood up. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Jess just knew that something was terribly wrong.

~oOo~

Becker sat at his desk in his tiny office. He was checking the surveillance footage of the mammoth's rampage for the third time on his laptop. With each new viewing, his frustration became more intense.

The Head of Security was focussing his attention on the minutes before Abby's accident. The surveillance camera in the menagerie showed that everything was in order and the way it was supposed to be.

The door of Manny's box was closed and the mammoth quietly grazed on the haystack next to him. Then the camera turned and showed the other side of the menagerie with a row of smaller boxes for the compsognathi.

When the camera moved back to its original position, the door of Manny's box stood wide open and the mammoth was gone.

Becker couldn't shake the feeling that he had missed an important detail. He rubbed his forehead while pressing the rewind key. Once more, he watched Manny grabbing hay with his trunk and shoving it up into his mouth. Then it was the camera move over to the compsognathi and back to the empty box.

As the camera started its motion towards the other end of the room again, Becker noticed something. At first, he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. Going back a couple of frames, he froze the image and blew it up to full size. There it was, a small object next to the open door and partially hidden by a load of straw.

Becker had a closer look. He could make out the pointy shape of a little dart.

He frowned "What the hell is that doing in there?"

* * *

><p><em>Hmmmm... so what is a dart doing in Manny's box? Any ideas? ;-D<em>

_And poor Jess! things are not going so well for her._

_I d'love to hear what you think._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yeah, it's been a long, long time since the last chapter. I have fought with the story and it with me. Because I am such a mother hen, I hate it when bad things happen to "my"* darling characters. But without bad things happening, there wouldn't be a story, right? So bad things are going to happen. Aplenty!**

**This chapter wouldn't exist without the help of some people whom I owe many, many, many thanks:**

**SandyLee Potts for her thoughts on Jess and the ADD. Some of the words you are going to read are hers.**

**Phoebenpiper and YouHaveLovelyHair for their input about Becker's reaction in a certain situation and their enthusiasm and cheering up when I felt demoralised.**

**He who is the Captain of my heart in real life for his help with the action scenes. Some of the words you are going to read are his.**

**I would also like to thank everyone who has kindly reviewed this story so far.**

***Primeval and its characters are not mine. They belong to Impossible Pictures.**

_**So, meanwhile Becker is trying to find out why Manny the mammoth had freaked out, Jess is experiencing a particularly bad day.**_

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Becker was running down the long, dark corridor as fast as he could. The hissing and snarling behind him had become louder again. Although he couldn't see them, his spider sense told him that there were at least five behind him. Becker reached the main hall and hid behind a large pillar. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed the prone body of John Terry. The man's limbs were oddly contorted and his head stood out at an impossible angle.  
>At least Terry died quickly when the creature chased him off the gallery, Becker thought bitterly.<br>"Connor do you copy?" Matt's tired voice came in over the comms. "Connor, what's going on? Are you all right? "  
>After a long moment, Connor's voice came through. "We had to close the anomaly. There were just too many coming through. Emily managed to shoot quite a number of them, but there were just so many Runners."<p>

Earlier at the ARC

"Glen, have you or anyone else entered the mammoth's box since his return yesterday?"

Glen, the sturdy young man in charge of the menagerie during Abby's absence, turned around to face the ARC's Head of Security. He ran a hand through his somewhat dishevelled hair and put down the bucket of water that he had just filled up.

"Yes Captain. I cleaned his box around 9:30, after having fed the Dracorex. I wanted to see to this job myself, given yesterday's violent behaviour of Manny."

"Have you noticed something unusual in there?"

Glen shook his head slowly. "Manny was quite a bit thirstier than usual". He looked at Becker's attentive face and shrugged his shoulders. "I think that is to be expected after his …excursion."

Becker continued his questions, not happy with what he had heard so far.

"And other than the thirst, nothing unusual? Nothing odd? Anyone having tinkered with the locks or anything there that doesn't belong in his box?"

"Like what?"

Becker hesitated for a brief moment. He didn't think that Glen had anything to do with the incident. He had personally checked the man's background before Glen had been hired for the job of animal keeper. As far as Becker knew, he had a clean record. And before coming down to the menagerie, Becker had verified that Glen had indeed not entered the ARC at any moment the day before. He was not surprised to find that Glen had spent the day visiting his gran in Watford.

"Like a small sharp object. A dart, for example" Becker said slowly.

"No, nothing like that. I would have been notified if one of my colleagues had found something like that. We take the security of our animals very seriously. Manny could have got injured… do you think that someone did this on purpose?"

"We have to consider all the possible scenarios and at this point in time, we can't afford to neglect any possibilities" Becker said in a neutral tone of voice. "Where do you dispose of the waste and dung from the boxes?"

If Glen wondered how far the Head of Security was willing to go in his search for this mysterious dart, he had just been given a sample of Becker's tenacity.

"We gather all the soiled straw and sand from the boxes in a locked container room near the loading dock. Once a week it gets sent out to an incineration facility that specialises in hazardous waste. Currently, the containers are only half full as the last pick-up took place 3 days ago."

Becker followed Glen through the corridor and down to the loading dock. As the two men approached the door of the container room, the all too familiar sound of an anomaly alert rang out. Becker ordered Glen to keep the container room locked at all times and not allow anyone to enter before swiftly turning on his heels and returning towards Ops.

~oOo~

As soon as she heard the anomaly alert blare, Jess dashed back to the ADD. She had just started to eat her lunch sandwich and was debating with herself, whether or not to go see Abby again later on. But Connor might be with her and he clearly thought of Jess as the one to blame for Abby's accident. Her morning had been weird enough, so she did not particularly fancy the idea of having another encounter with Connor. And apparently it wasn't just Connor. On the way out of the medical section Jess ran into Elsa, the head nurse of the ARC. But instead of stopping for a quick chat like she normally would, Elsa just nodded briefly and kept on walking. Maybe she was just too busy, Jess thought, shrugging. But later, when Jess was in the lift with Garreth, one of the palaeobotanists she just recently had helped with an annoying computer bug, he seemed to feel uneasy in her presence and avoided eye-contact with her. And when Jess smiled at him and asked about the latest progress with his research, he just mumbled something barely audible and hurried through the lift door as if she scared the living daylight out of him. Then there were the two cleaners outside the accountant's office. When Jess rounded the corner, the two of them were engaged in an animated discussion that abruptly stopped as they caught sight of Jess. Once she had passed them, the women started to whisper in her back.

Jess pushed the memories of this unpleasant morning to the back of her mind and focused on the anomaly alert. The signal came from a grand shopping mall project. Planned at the turn of the century, construction was begun soon after, but abandoned due to the financial crisis in 2008.

The team members were already heading towards her, each of them grabbing their black boxes and waiting for her to give them further information. Connor still looked very upset when he showed up next to her chair, but he refrained from saying anything whatsoever to her. Instead he stood a few steps away from the ADD, leaning against a pillar and put his hands into his pockets.

Without further ado, Jess started passing on all the information to the team.

"The anomaly is located in the basement on the south west side of the building. It looks like a boiler room. There are several rows of tanks, some of them very large."

~oOo~

Arriving outside the shopping centre in their various vehicles, the team members quickly gathered in front of Matt's car.

"I've tapped into the security system and the cameras that I have brought up show no sign of an incursion." Jess informed them.

"All right. Let's scout the complex. Connor, you take Lampard and Shaqiri with you and close the anomaly. Becker and Terry take the upstairs. Emily, you are with me."

The different groups swiftly fanned out towards their destinations. Heading for the boiler room in the basement, Connor shouldered the black hold-all containing the locking device. Lampard took point with Shaqiri a little bit ahead of him, weapon down.

Connor squinted: "It's really dark down here."

His eyes slowly adjusted to the faint florescent lights of the emergency illumination.

"Connor, the anomaly is 55 feet to your left." Jess quietly said.

"Right." Connor turned his head seeing the familiar golden light coming from behind a large tank. A sudden noise prompted him to say "What's that?"

Shaqiri carefully turned his attention away from the anomaly and signalled Connor to be quiet with a finger over his mouth. He motioned for Lampard to check out the noise while he stayed put to guard the still open anomaly.

As the soldier moved towards the source of the noise, Lampard stared into the dark, sensing something on his right. From a far wall, something vaguely resembling a giant bipedal rat dashed towards him. Lampard fired a quick blast but the creature darted forward, completely unimpressed. Shaqiri and Connor shot several times at the creature as it appeared, but it was too fast. Lampard jumped out of its way, but its razor sharp teeth sank into his foot and started to drag him off into the darkness before a shot from Shaqiri's EMD eventually made it let go. Connor and Shaqiri blasted the creature in unison until it finally toppled over.

They hurried over to Lampard who bled profusely from a deep wound in his foot. His boot was torn and ripped half off his foot. His ankle was crushed. He was barely conscious.

"Jess, we need a medic down here now! Lampard is seriously injured. There _was_ something down here."

"Connor, I can't see any creatures on my monitors. What happened?"

"Jess, for god's sake, send the medics _now_!" Connor growled over the comms. There was a moment of silence, then Jess' curt voice replied.

"Medics are on their way."

~oOo~

On the gallery of the first floor, Becker and Terry were silently searching each corner. While searching the front room of a little shop that had been meant to sell shoes and swimwear, Becker started to feel a sudden air movement. The room was dark, the only light coming from the emergency light in the gallery. He noticed a door to his right, apparently leading towards a back room. Grabbing the handle, he carefully opened it, just to see the front room immediately flooded with golden light.

"Jess, there is a second anomaly on the first floor off the gallery in a back room."

Becker waited, but got no response.

"Jess, do you hear me?"

A dark shape bolted the length of the gallery, prompting Becker to shoot. Which had no effect except a weak "pfffft". Becker shook his EMD and tried again. "Pfffft". On his left side, he saw John Terry fire, but the shot was slightly off and missed the creature that slammed into the soldier thus weakening the gallery guardrail and sending them both into space. The large rat-like creature bore Terry into the ground, smashing his head into the tiled floor below. After a tiny hesitation, it scurried away.

Running down two flights of stairs to the plaza as fast as he could, Becker hurried over to his man. He examined him carefully.

"Jess…he is dead!"

Still no reply came from Jess. Becker tried to raise Matt and Emily. Nothing. Connor and the others in the basement. Still nothing. So he decided to go find Matt and Emily as they would be the closest to his current position.

~oOo~

Several meters away down a side corridor, Matt slowly proceeded along a tiled wall when he heard a sudden commotion in the distance.

"It's coming from the basement" Emily whispered.

Entering a stairwell, she and matt saw a burst of light through a lower window. The door flew open, revealing a large, upright creature. Matt raised his weapon firing twice. Unfortunately, a small "pffff" was the only effect. Emily had better luck, her three shots threw the creature over.

"You got the Runner!" said Connor.

"Is that its scientific name, Connor?" Emily asked.

"Well, I have no idea what this thing is, but boy do they move quickly!"

~oOo~

"Becker? Can you hear me? Becker, what is going on? Are you ok?"

There was just silence on the line, scarier and more menacing than screams and commotion could ever have been.

Jess worried to the degree that her breath was short and shaky. Her fingers typing command after command to get the comms working again. She tried to raise each of the team members over the comms several times, but nobody would talk to her. She even tried them on their mobiles to no avail. Beforehand, she frantically had tried to get better visuals of the incursion site. The ADD seemed to be rather slow today, especially when she switched between cameras. And the corridors and halls were always calm and empty. She could get a glimpse of some of the team members every now and then, but never saw any creatures. This seemed odd to Jess and she wondered if the huge computer needed some repairs or diagnostics, she was losing faith in both the machine's ability to aid her and in her own ability to find what was wrong.

She then tried to dispatch another team to help them, but found that all remaining teams were already engaged in solving critical situations elsewhere. Jess frowned. She was the field coordinator. She was the one sending out teams. So why did she not know anything about other teams being dispatched already? What the hell was going on?

Jess couldn't explain what happened, but she knew that everything was going wrong here. She who was supposed to be their eyes and ears could not see or hear the danger the field team might and possibly was walking into. She felt blind and deaf at the ADD. More than that, she knew she had given them information that had led them into harm's way. She might have hurt, even killed them!

Feeling demoralised by the whole morning's experience, she turned off the ADD. Maybe a few moments offline would be beneficial, both to her and to the computer. Once her screens turned black, Jess got out of her chair and walked over to Lester's office.

~oOo~

"Becker…. I am so very sorry! I….don't understand what…Are you all right? I mean obviously you are not … what I mean is …."

"Jess!"

This time her rambling was too much for him. Becker leaned against the wall of the locker room. His tall figure was tense and very still. His face resembled a mask, his eyes looking straight ahead.

"Terry died today".

Becker briskly turned his head and looked her in the face. His eyes hard, his voice controlled, but with an underlying tone that hinted at all the emotions that were raging inside of him and that he carefully tried to suppress. Anger. Guilt. Hurt. And most of all, disappointment.

Jess stopped talking at once. She flung her arms around her body as if to support her upright position in the centre of the room. She couldn't bear looking at Becker anymore. She felt mortified. She had failed them, had failed _him. He _relied on her and she let him down. She should have fixed the problem, found a way around. How could she ever guide him again? How could he ever trust her again?

~oOo~

On the third floor of the ARC, a thin, tall man wearing the grey outfit of a caretaker sat at a desk in an unused small office. His laptop was set up in front of him. After typing a few short commands on the keyboard, he leaned back and relaxed. This was going to be enjoyable. At this moment, the camera feed from the locker room started to play on his screen and he heard Becker's voice:

"Go away, Jessica. Leave me alone!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **Not a good day for poor Jess, I'am afraid. The next chapter will be up sooner this time (and that is a promise!). Thank you all for your patience. Have a lovely Sunday!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So here it is - my latest update. I would like to thank everyone who has been reviewing this story so far. Thank you for your patience. I had a very busy summer with almost no time to write. ****  
><strong>

**I would also like to thank everyone who sent me encouraging messages or was simply kicking my butt so that I would get back to writing.  
><strong>

**This chapter is dedicated to SandyLee Potts and Mijo54.****  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The newspaper screamed in bold letters "Secret Government Agency shelters live dinosaurs. What the Minister didn't tell us…"<p>

Highly annoyed, Lester placed the newspaper down on the pristine surface of his glass table! He thought his week couldn't get any worse, but quite apparently he was wrong. Lester had been in the business long enough to know what the implications of these headlines were. How did the press get a hold of the information. Was there a leak? And who had put this newspaper on his office table? The tabloid was hardly his normal choice of reading material.

Lester's phone rang. "Of course…" he huffed, narrowed his eye to look at the display and with reluctance reached for the phone to answer it. "Yes Minister". After what must have been a very long monologue Lester responded by "certainly, Minister. Let me reassure you that I will do my utmost to deal…."

~oOo~

The medical ward was quiet. The monitors beeped their slow rhythm and the lights were dimmed. Becker stood next to Lampard's bed. The soldier was still unconscious and his face was very pale. Shaqiri sat on a chair next to his injured friend, pale himself. He must have spent the night at Lampard's bedside.

"How is he?" Becker quietly asked the doctor who was bent over, checking his patient's vital signs. Dr. Burns stood straight up, gave Becker a cautious look and ran his hands through his short, reddish hair. He was almost as tall as Becker.

"It 's too early to make a conclusive statement. The injury on his ankle was very severe and unfortunately, we had to amputate his foot during an emergency operation. He is out of immediate danger to his life, but there is still a high risk of infection and as we don't know the creature that attacked him, we have to be prepared for anything. However, if his condition remains stable in the next 48 hours, then his chance of survival will improve."

Becker nodded briefly. "Thank you, Doctor."

With one last look at the two soldiers and the doctor, he turned and left the room.

Luckily, the morning was quiet, so Becker could further investigate the missing dart from the mammoth's box. He had given explicit orders not to dispose of any of the mammoth's waste before he could examine it.

Yet another riddle, Becker thought. He decided to get himself a cup of tea before starting the rather unpleasant chore of manually searching the manure.

Becker started the kettle in the break room and rubbed his eyes with his left hand. He was feeling tired and confused. He didn't sleep much the previous night.

After leaving the ARC yesterday, he went for a long drive in his black SUV, aimlessly crossing the city, mechanically steering and paying only a bare minimum of attention to the surrounding traffic activities. He hoped that the humming of the engine and the darkness of the November night would calm the turmoil in his mind.

When he finally got back to his apartment, he flicked on his telly automatically, without really paying any attention to the news programme, then stretched out on his couch and covered his forehead with the back of his hand.

He felt exhausted. Still angry and yet abashed. He was enraged that he had failed. The mission had gone wrong. They had lost a man and one was on the brink of death. Maybe, if he hadn't used a dysfunctional weapon, Terry could have lived. Why did his EMD not fire properly? He had personally made sure that after the disappearance of the power unit delivery, all remaining power units were fully charged and ready to be fully operational. So why did his fail to function properly?

Becker had the feeling that there was something going on behind the scenes, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He was on alert. Trained to survive in highly dangerous situations, Becker had all the required skills to survive. One of those skills was a sharpened sense to detect danger. Could there be a saboteur at work?

Becker also felt ashamed. He had let out his anger on Jess, when really he was blaming himself for the failed mission. For all the help and guidance that she would normally give the field team, she could see only part of what they saw directly on site.

The Captain wondered what was going on with Jess. To be honest with himself, he was worried about her. Clearly she didn't perform at her normal level of impeccable, fast and steady field co-ordination. She didn't work with her usual serene confidence. But instead of talking to her about what caused her distress, he went and snapped at her.

Despite all the anger and frustration he felt about the failed mission, he also knew that it wasn't right to blame her for it.

That was hardly an acceptable behaviour for an officer. And definitely not the behaviour worthy of a friend.

A_ friend_? Becker let out a frustrated sigh.

Damn! Crap! Bollocks! He was such a coward! If he didn't get his act together soon with Jess_, a friend_ was all he'd ever be to her. She wouldn't wait around forever for him to make his move. Even the world's longest crush would eventually come to an end. She would shake it off, move on and find someone less inhibited, _less cowardly _ than him.

The fact that Jess so openly showed her feelings for him both scared him and attracted him to her. When Becker was younger, he thought it was _unmanly _not to do the chasing himself. If a girl showed too much interest before he made his move, he'd considered her not worth the effort.

But since he started working at the ARC, he met a number of women who defied conventions in many ways. And he started to realise why he felt so uneasy about expressing his feelings. Becker appeared stoic, but only a fool would assume he had no emotions. Far from it. Under his calm demeanour and controlled appearance, there was a soul hidden, full of all shades and hues of emotions.

As a boy, Becker had been rather shy and a bit stand-offish. He had been a bit of a loner who preferred to play on his own most of the time. Growing up, he learned that having friends and relating to others was important. But his training at Sandhurst and his life as an elite soldier had never encouraged him to publicly display his emotions.

Emotions that he had learned to keep to himself so much so that he almost lost the ability to communicate them. The rare moments when he let his deeper emotions show, were life-threatening situations. When the adrenaline rush took over his brain.

In normal, day-to-day situations, his conditioning seemed to be insurmountable. He knew he had to do something soon. He had to talk to Jess. But what if he didn't find the right words to say, the right gestures to make? Becker realised he didn't know how to court Jess. He didn't want to lose his chance with her.

~oOo~

Jess sat at the ADD and frowned at her many screens. She was glad that the morning was so far quiet and without any alerts whatsoever. This gave her the opportunity to run several diagnostics to find out what had "blinded" her during yesterday's mission.

While the programmes were running their course, Jess' thoughts drifted off. She recalled the scene in the locker room with Becker. His outburst, although painful for her, didn't come as a surprise. Obviously, yesterday's mission had failed and he took it very badly. He had lost one of his men and might still lose another one.

What pained her most, was that she thought Becker was right to blame her. He did not openly accuse her, but his reaction yesterday spoke volumes.

She clearly had let the team down. They depended on her guidance and instructions. She didn't deliver. She had failed.

Now all she could do was to check the system for a possible bug.

Jess hadn't yet seen anyone from the team this morning. Except for Emily who had dropped by with a cup of tea and a reassuring smile.

Jess had much appreciated this little gesture. At least one team member was still talking to her.

Lester had just grunted a short "morning" towards her, then disappeared into his office where he spent the rest of the morning with his door closed.

Jess was stopped in her thoughts when a short message showed up on the screen right in front of her. She turned her full attention to the note and furrowed her brows.

The information she was reading was highly disturbing. There was evidence that someone had placed spy-ware on the ARC's system. None of the standard checks she previously ran had brought this up. But Jess had updated the diagnostics programme with an added software that she just had finished writing herself only a few days ago. Her timing couldn't have been better.

Jess' fingers flew over the keyboard at high speed. Her brain was already trying to assess what damage had been done and how she could possibly fix it. She was completely absorbed analysing the problem. Jess was oblivious to her environment. She didn't notice Matt and Becker crossing the OPS-room heading towards Lester's office. She also missed the worried expression on Becker's face when he briefly looked at her before shutting the glass door behind him.

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><p><strong>Apologies to Chelsea FC...<strong>

**The next chapter is almost finished, so this time you won't have to wait as long :-D  
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**Reviews are always welcome.  
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**Thank you for following this story!  
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**Cheers  
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**Prawn Crackers  
><strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well, what can I say but sorry for the long wait. And thank you for your patience, those of you who are still following this story!  
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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

Abby sighed. She was propped up on a big fluffy pillow. The head end of her bed was just raised enough for her to read comfortably. And that's what she had been doing all morning. Having read each and every magazine that Jess had brought her, she was now bored to tears.

As if on cue, the door opened and Connor entered her room with a furtive glance over his shoulder.

"Connor, are you in trouble?"

He gave her an impish grin, showing the dimples on his cheeks, then bent down to kiss her.

"No, not yet…"

"What's that under your hoodie?" Abby had noticed a bulge on her fiancés jacket.

"Oh that? That's a little surprise for you…Someone misses you a lot!"

Connor carefully pulled down the zip fastener of his hoodie. Abby's eyes grew wide and a dazzling smile lit up her face. Rex climbed across Connor's chest, turned around on his shoulder and jumped straight into Abby's arms. She cradled the little lizard.

"Oh, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" And with a cheeky grin she added "Both of you!"

Connor sat down on the bed and put his arm around Abby's shoulder.

"Glen wants him back at the menagerie at 3 o'clock."

Rex had rolled up on Abby's lap with his head on his tail, looking very much like a happy puppy. Hearing Connor's voice, he cocked his head and let out a cheerful chirp.

~oOo~

"Sir, I think I found something" Shaqiri said.

Becker stepped over and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. The two men had been searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, or rather the dart in the straw-filled container, for the last three hours. They had carefully moved enormous piles of straw, mixed with sand and excrements of all the residents of the menagerie.

Their uniforms were soiled and they both had smears of dung on their faces. It was very hot in the container room and both men were sweating profusely. Becker's normally pristine hair was dishevelled and a stray lock fell over his brow. With an impatient look he moved it back and said:

"Show me!"

Shaqiri bent down and picked up the dart with this shovel. Becker produced a small plastic bag and carefully placed the dart inside without touching it.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Becker sounded relieved. Shaqiri couldn't agree more. The stench in the room was becoming unbearable.

The soldier and his Captain walked over to the locker room where Shaqiri swiftly headed towards the shower stalls. Becker stayed behind and as soon as he heard the water running in the adjacent area, he pulled out a pair of latex gloves and put them on.

Becker moved silently across the room to the row of lockers. He took a deep breath and whispered "Please forgive me!"

The Head of Security then carefully opened Jess' locker with his passe-partout and looked inside to quickly take an inventory of its contents. A spare set of (colourful) cloths, her raincoat, a small bag containing make-up and toiletry, a chocolate bar, a pair of orange high heels, and a larger gym bag.

Becker grabbed the bag and pulled it out to have a look inside. He opened it and felt inside with one of his gloved hands. When he got a hold of a small object, he retracted his hand to examine it. Then he saw it.

Becker's face became very pale suddenly. "Oh God, no!"

~oOo~

"What is going on, Miss Parker? "

Lester paused and looked up at Jess. She stood in front of his desk and remained silent. Her face was pale and her normally cheerful disposition gone. Edgy and tense, she fiddled with her necklace and looked at Lester with wide eyes.

„Your performance at work has been abysmal lately, Miss Parker. You lose files. You release dangerous creatures to roam freely in the ARC."

He paused again, then continued „And then there was the disastrous operation yesterday that could have easily killed more than one member of the field team. Lampard is still in very critical condition and might not survive. So, I ask you again, what is the matter with you, Jess? "

"Sir, I'm…. this is…I'm very sorry, but….none of this…there is a trojan!"

"I beg your pardon?"

To Lester, none of her words made any sense. He had hoped that Jess would be able to give him some explanations. Which clearly wasn't the case.

Becker was leaning against the glass wall of Lester's office. His arms folded in front of his chest, he watched Jess' incoherent speech. His face was an unreadable mask. His shoulders were tight. He dreaded what was to come. On the other side of the room, Matt stood and watched.

Lester spoke again.

"Furthermore, as you are well aware, there was a leak to the media detailing what we are doing here. Did you leak confidential information to the public? I start to wonder!"

Lester continued „Then it was brought to my attention that you seem to have an addiction problem. So I asked Captain Becker in his function as Head of Security to perform a search of your locker. And he found this."

Lester held up a tiny plastic bag filled with a white powdery substance.

Jess looked at him in shock, then turned her head to look at Becker. The Captain saw the hurt in her eyes and looked away quickly.

When Jess spoke this time, her words were concise and clear.

"I do not recognise this bag. It was never in my possession. I am not a drug user. I might not have performed at my usual level recently, but I have never put anyone in harm's way intentionally."

She paused for a second, then continued: "Sir, I've just discovered a serious threat that needs to be dealt with urgently! The ARC's computer system has been infected with malignant spyware! Someone has gained remote access to the ARC."

There was silence in the room while three pairs of eyes looked at her in shock. Becker had pushed himself off the wall. His body was tense. Matt's face was as stoic as always, but his hands were clenched into fists. Lester sat upright in his chair, his palms down flat against the glass surface of the desk.

"Mr Anderson, get Temple over here as soon as possible. He needs to deal with this spy ware at once. As far as you're concerned, Miss Parker, I'm afraid I can't let you get near the ADD again."

"But, Sir I can..."

Lester lifted his arms in a gesture of resignation.

"Jess, I don't have any choice in this matter! Until we get to the bottom of this unpleasant business, you are released from all your duties here. And given the seriousness of the allegations, I am forced to ask Captain Becker to lead you to the arrest cells where you will remain until this case gets resolved."

Jess stood in front of Lester's desk, motionless. She stared down at the tips of her shoes. She didn't even try to plead or complain. She had just frozen.

Lester sighed. Sometimes, he truly hated his job. He looked over at Becker who briefly nodded and moved towards Jess.

"Come on, Jess, let's go" Becker said gently. Jess didn't look up but reluctantly started to walk towards the door.

When they crossed OPS, everything went quiet. People stopped working and followed the two with their eyes. Jess had her eyes fixed to the floor, Not once did she look up. Becker walked next to her, one of his hands placed on the small of her back. It felt like an eternity until they reached the corridor that led them to the arrest cells.

When Becker opened the first door on his left, he realised it was the same cell he had Ethan locked up in a couple of months ago. They both entered the confined quarters.

Jess stood in the middle of the arrest cell, with her arms wrapped around her slim body. She looked tiny and fragile. And in her eyes, Becker could see the fear.

„I am so sorry, so very sorry Jess" he said, his voice soft and low and his hazel eyes full of worry. It was the first time he had spoken since they left Lester's office.

„Becker, can you do something for me….please?"

He looked at her with his hands in his pocket, waiting for her to continue.

„The spy ware... tell Connor to look for a Medusa. He'll know what to do."

Becker nodded briefly and with one last look at Jess turned and shut the door on her. Outside he leaned against the wall of the corridor, his muscles all tense and his fist hitting the bricks hard as anger and despair boiled up inside of him. How could this all be happening? When did things start to go so horribly wrong?

It just could not be true. No way! Jess was not an addict. She was their brilliant, level-headed Field Coordinator. Organised, prepared and a quick thinker, she was calm and in control at her job. Jess was his rock and his harbour. One of very few people Becker completely trusted.

And yet, there was this tiny voice in his head, wondering whether it could be true. After all, Jess was very young. Maybe the burden of responsibility had become too much for her. And perhaps the continuous stress and relentless hectic pace of their work finally had got to her, made her crack and slip.

Just like what happened to Ellen. It had gone unnoticed that she was an addict. And then it was too late.

Becker sighed quietly. Ellen, his gorgeous, funny and incredibly talented cousin. She had died at the age of 25. First, the family was told only that she had succumbed to a heart attack. Then they found out that massive amounts of cocaine had been found in her blood. Ellen had been an aspiring blues singer with a great career ahead of her. She had just released her first album as a solo artist and was working frantically on her second one after having finished an exhausting tour throughout Europe.

He had no idea how it all started with his cousin's problems. As kids, they were very close, growing up in the same neighbourhood. When they were teenagers, they spent countless hours together, listening to music, talking and laughing after school and on the weekends. Then Becker went to Sandhurst and they slowly started to lose contact. He still caught up with Ellen whenever he came home and she was around. Yet the occasions became rare. And then, just a few days after he returned from his tour in Afghanistan, she was found dead in her apartment.

Becker pushed himself off the wall and marched down the corridor with long strides. He traversed the OPS room in a rush heading towards Connor's lab. The workers in the Ops room furtively watched his tall, dark, thunderous figure disappear around the corner. Nobody approached him or talked to him. It was obvious that he was not going to react in a friendly manner to anyone daring to interrupt his mission.

~oOo~

All alone in her arrest cell, Jess finally looked around. The room was creepy as if parts of Ethan's madness were still lingering around. In one corner, there was a narrow plank-bed with a thin blanket and a small pillow. A plastic chair and a metal table completed the furniture. One corner was hidden behind a curtain. Jess felt no need to look behind it. She could guess what was behind. The air in the room was cold and the walls bare. Jess sat down on the plank-bed and pulled her cardigan tighter around herself. She pushed her hands into its pockets where her fingers touched a piece of wrapping paper. Jess slowly pulled out her hand holding a row of the chocolate that was neatly enveloped in aluminium foil and paper. It was the last bit of the chocolate Becker brought her after the Hyde Park anomaly.

Looking at it, jess wondered whether he would ever bring her chocolate again. Or even talk to her. If Lampard died, that would be it, surely. Clutching the chocolate to her chest, she finally allowed herself to cry.

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><p><strong>AN: Poor, poor Jess! I feel sorry about how badly you got treated in this chapter. By the way, the very idea for this story was born the moment I imagined the very scene where Becker arrests Jess. **

**I do think it's time the team rallies around Jess and a certain Captain comes to her rescue! :-D Soonish...yes I know, but I will try and give my best!  
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**Reviews are always welcome! They do help me to improve my writing.  
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**Oh, and thanks for reading, you lovely readers!  
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	9. Chapter 9

**Sooooooo sorry for the long delay in updating! Sometimes, real life takes its toll ;-D**

**For you, my lovely and patient readers, here is more "Revenge"...  
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**I would like to thank _YouHaveLovelyHair_ for convincing me that this isn't all rubbish.  
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**Unfortunately, Primeval isn't mine! I do this for fun and I do not gain anything by it, other than experience and pleasure! Just to have pointed it out again.  
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><p>Chapter 9<p>

"So why is it called a Medusa?"

The Captain's voice sounded tired and slightly hoarse.

Connor looked up from his screen at Becker's dark figure leaning against the wall next to his desk. Becker's face was composed and calm, but his eyes betrayed the stoic soldier and showed how worried he was.

"You see, one of the most common ways that spyware is distributed is as a Trojan horse, or Trojan, bundled with a piece of desirable software that the user downloads for example from the Internet. When the user installs the software, the spyware is installed along with it. Now Jess would never just carelessly download software like your average user might. The firewalls we have installed at the ARC are up to date and almost impossible to surmount. So whoever is responsible for this did two things."

Connor held up one finger "Firstly, he used another entry way for the Trojan. He placed the malware directly into the system without having anyone download it via Internet. Possibly using a DVD or USB-stick or any other portable device.

"And secondly" Connor now held up another finger, "he used a particularly aggressive form of Trojan, a rootkit called Medusa. The Medusa malware once released into a system attacks the protection programmes of the target system. Normally, any time the operating system does something, the anti-malware software checks that the OS is doing an approved task. But with Medusa attacking, the anti-malware programmes get knocked out without appearing to be. They are still seemingly "performing" without having any effect. To anyone checking the system, it would appear that the protection software was doing its job, going through all the normal steps, meanwhile what really happens, is the malware creates the illusion that everything works normally.

Becker took in the entire information remaining silent for a moment. Then he quirked an eyebrow: "You mean, Odysseus was here?"

"What?" Connor looked at him, momentarily confused by the Captain's question.

"Odysseus came up with the ruse that decided the Trojan War. He had the Trojan Horse built."

"You've read the Iliad!"

"Indeed!" Becker said drily.

"Not surprising, really" Connor grinned," It's after all an epic tale about a decade-long war. Just the right kind of story for you..."

Becker narrowed his eyes and was about to retort when there was a noise outside Connor's lab.

Both men looked up when the door opened and Emily stormed in.

"Becker, there are rumours that you have arrested Jess? Tell me this isn't the case."

"Lester gave the order" he said quietly.

"Why did you follow it then? She is clearly innocent!"

Becker folded his arms over his chest and stared at Emily

"Unlike you, I do follow orders, even if…"

Emily waved her hand in the air, interrupting the Captain

"…even if they are utterly ridiculous?"

They kept staring at each other. Connor watched them, but knew better than to interfere with their arguing. He still remembered all too well Becker's thunderous arrival in his lab half an hour ago. The soldier was obviously very affected by the recent events and clearly on edge. His shoulders were tense and the muscles in his jaw tight, when he finally snarled at Emily.

"How dare you!"

Matt chose this moment to enter the lab. He looked from one to the other and asked "What's going on?"

Emily turned towards him. "Did you know Becker arrested Jess?"

Becker almost growled the words "He was there."

Emily's eyebrows shot up. She turned her head around to look at Matt. "And you let him? Honestly, what is wrong with all of you? Jess is clearly in trouble, but instead of helping her, you allow these ludicrous allegations to be taken seriously!"

Matt stepped forward and put his hand on Emily's shoulder, trying to appease her irritation.

"Calm down, Emily!"

"No Matt, I won't _calm down_! For heaven's sake, Jess needs our help! Do I need to remind you all who Jess is? She welcomed me in this time with open arms and has always been a very good and extremely supportive friend."

She then looked at Connor. "She gave you a home when you and Abby needed one" she continued fixing her eyes on Becker "and she literally saved your life when she defused that bomb, Captain. She would do anything for you and you obviously love her. So what are you waiting for, Becker?" She gave him a daring look.

Becker was about to explode when Connor put a hand on his arm. "Don't mate!"

It was finally Matt, who spoke into the tense silence and all heads turned towards him.

"I have a simple question. Do any of you believe that Jess is responsible for this? That she neglected her job? Put lives in danger carelessly?"

The team leader paused for a moment then added pointedly "because I don't, for one moment, think that Jess would betray our trust."

Emily fiercely shook her head.

"Connor?"

Connor's cheeks started showing a slight tinge of red while he thought back to the way he had treated Jess recently. Because in the heat of the moment, after Abby's terrible accident, he _did_ hold Jess responsible for it. It had _seemed_ to be the right conclusion. There was still a trace of guilt in his eyes, when he spoke:

"No, I don't think she's responsible."

Matt finally turned to face Becker. The Head of Security appeared composed again and stood completely motionless next to Connor. Nonetheless, Matt could sense Becker's edginess.

"Someone is trying to frame her!" Becker's voice was firm. "Someone who has gained access to the ARC before and might be able to enter again. The intruder might be armed. I need to get her out of that arrest cell as soon as possible! She is not safe there."

"Becker, we all share your sentiment of frustration. But we won't help her one bit if we just storm ahead and jump into action. So let's all calm down and come up with a rescue plan for Jess."

Becker tightened his fists, but did not argue this time. Instead he cocked his head slightly and looked at Matt.

"So what have we got?" Matt continued. "Files go missing, weapon deliveries disappear, and orders get messed up. Team members get killed or are seriously injured. Drugs were found. System malfunctions occur. And after each of these incidents, the evidence seems to point towards Jess."

"It will take half a day minimum to clear the system from Medusa." Connor said "and meanwhile we can't trust our systems. We have to proceed very carefully as all digital information we see might have been manipulated."

"Who is behind this?" Matt wondered. "Jess is hardly the kind of person to make plenty of enemies."

"I ran a background check on her and she is absolutely clean. No crazy relatives. No-one in her environment stands out as a possible danger."

"A background check on Jess? Ah, I see" There was a mischievous glitter in Connor's eyes.

"It is my duty as Head of Security to guarantee the safety of this facility." Becker replied curtly.

"No frustrated partner or ex-boyfriend, then?" Matt cut in, asking the obvious question.

Becker just shook his head. He didn't like where their conversation went. Although he knew Matt had a point asking this particular question, he found that the thought of Jess in a relationship with another man stirred an uncomfortable sentiment of jealousy in him, if he was completely honest with himself. And he was certainly neither willing nor ready to discuss Jess' private life with his friends.

"So we've got nothing? No clue, no hint?" Matt sounded a little discomfited.

"I doubt that it's someone from the ARC" Emily said. She knew how much everybody liked their Field Coordinator.

"It could be a neighbour, a friend of a friend or some acquaintance she made." Connor huffed in frustration and looked at his team members.

Becker rubbed his hand over his eyes in an attempt to get some clear idea. "There must be something we haven't considered yet!"

Emily frowned, then straightened herself and lifted her gaze with determination. When she spoke, she had the full attention of the three men in the room.

~oOo~

Jess sat on the narrow bed. Her pink high heels lay abandoned on the cell floor. She had pulled up her feet, her arms wrapped around her shins and her forehead leaning against her knees. When she heard the smooth clicking of the cell door followed by a sliding noise, she didn't bother looking up. It was probably the guard bringing her dinner, or so she assumed when she heard the sound of boots approaching.

Only when someone sat down next to her with a light thud did she look up.

When Becker looked down at her face, he felt a heavy lump form in his throat and his heartbeat jumped a little. Jess' eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, her mascara all smeared up.

"Becker?" she asked half sceptical and half surprised.

Looking at her tear smeared face and hearing her quiet voice, Becker realised that there was no way he could just keep up his aloofness and distance towards her. At that moment, he was so overwhelmed with affection for Jess and yet he felt so guilty towards her that this sudden overload of emotions left him completely speechless. He hated himself for having put her in this awful cell and in this miserable state. He knew he had acted upon an order, but he also knew that it was the wrong thing to do. All he wanted to do was to protect her, keep her safe. It was an overwhelming urge.

"Jess!" His voice was raw with emotions. When she looked up, she was surprised to see his usual mask gone and his face displaying a plethora of feelings. She expected to see the stoic soldier who had arrested her. Instead she saw a man looking at her with eyes expressing equally guilt, frustration, tenderness and above all, love.

Becker was still struggling for words. He took a deep breath, sighed, then closed his eyes for a moment.

Jess still wasn't sure why the Captain had come back. But she realised she'd never seen him this emotional before.

Becker reopened his eyes and Jess felt his intense gaze wandering over her red face.

"Oh Jess!" With an almost desperate move, Becker scooped her up and pulled her close, clutching her against his chest, still mumbling her name_._

Jess' eyes flew open wide. Her arms went instinctively around Becker's neck. She could feel his heartbeat. His warm breath touched her ear when he said her name, in a low voice like a prayer. In the dim light of her cell, she ran her fingers through his silky hair, looking into his hazel eyes, mesmerized by the dancing golden sparks. Time seemed to stand still. Their faces were imperceptibly drawn towards each other. Their lips touched and melted into that kiss they both had been longing for so desperately.

At first, they kept perfectly still in each other's arms, just abandoning themselves to their kiss, letting it get deeper and more intense. Jess still couldn't believe that this was happening. She was kissing Becker! Her heart was beating hard against her chest and there was a rush of warmth spreading from somewhere behind her navel through her entire body. Then she could feel his hands running down her side and placing his wide palms on her waist. She had buried her fingers in his lush, silky hair, pulling him closer to her. No matter how bad her situation was right now, locked up in a cell and under investigation, as long as he held her tight, she would get through anything!

After what felt like an eternity, Becker pulled back slightly, just enough to look into Jess' big, blue eyes while holding her tight otherwise. He gave her an almost shy smile that made him look much younger.

"Jess, I need to ask you something. It's very important." He paused for a moment studying her reaction.

It took Jess some time to regain full control over her brain. She felt her newly found optimism sink slightly. So now he wanted to _talk_? After having kissed her _like that_? For a man as tongue-tied as Becker, he sure knew how to pick his moments!

"Yeah…" she looked at him dreamily.

"The team…we think that whoever put that spyware onto the ARC's system is not just extremely dangerous, but also has some personal motivation to hurt you."

"What?" Jess 'eyes widened with shock.

"Is there someone who might have some resentment against you?"

Jess frowned slightly, hesitating a little before replying.

"I…..don't think so"

Becker brushed her cheek gently with his thumb.

"Jess, Emily mentioned someone…that there was an incident at university. " Becker felt her body tensing instantly and pulled her even closer, hugging her in his arms. He knew he couldn't press her for an answer, no matter how urgent the situation was. He'd done enough already to hurt her. So he waited patiently for Jess to speak.

"Frank" she whispered

"What happened?"

"He bullied me for a while. Then one day he was gone. We heard that he had moved to a different city. I never saw him again!"

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><p><strong>So there you go! In the New Year, we will find out more about Jess' very own foe!<strong>

**Until then, I wish you all a merry, merry Christmas and a spectacular New Year! May all of you share a kiss with your very own Becker (or Connor, or Matt, or Lester if you prefer :-D)  
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**Thank you again for your endurance and patience!  
><strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Ahem...yes, sorry! It took far to long! Real life has been a bit demanding lately and didn't leave me with much writing time. I hope there are still some people out there following this story and I truly appreciate your patience. **

**Big, big hugs and a mighty thank you go to the lovely _Aithion_ and _FLUFF-N-UTTER_ for beta-reading this chapter and giving me precious advice about my plot. **

**I did add a few things later, so all mistakes you might find are mine. Primeval and its characters are not mine though. I only write for fun and don't make any money with it. **

**Sooooo, remember chapter 9? That's when there was the kiss and this is what follows...**

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

"It happened during my last year at university. He bullied me for a while, then one day he was just gone. We heard that he had moved to a different city and I never saw him again!" Jess said in a very low voice.

After a long moment, she took a deep breath and continued speaking. "You see, I was much younger than most other students at university."

The thought seemed to make her feel uncomfortable and she blushed lightly.

"And there were only very few women in my computer science classes. Just me and two other girls. Most guys reacted well to our presence, they enjoyed having some girls around and although I was much younger than them, they treated me in a kind way, although sometimes a little bit like I was their little sister…which can be unnerving at times!"

She blushed again. Becker could very well imagine how her fellow students might have had protective instincts about Jess, but at the same time, he wondered whether they really just saw her as a little sister.

"But the most important thing to me was that they took me seriously, my skills, my knowledge. Well, maybe not right away, but they did let me prove myself to them and they did respect me as a fellow student. Except for Frank Sinclair. He was an excellent student. Very bright, very smart, and very intimidating. He did get along with other students, but not with any of us girls. Anna and Grace were the same age as him, but it didn't help them one bit. According to Frank, girls just didn't have the brains for science and with me, he was even worse.

Becker started to get an idea what sort of bully this Frank was, but he didn't want to interrupt Jess, now that she was braving her memories.

"Most of the time, he would just try to ignore me. Every now and then, he would mutter a somewhat misogynous comment under his breath. Like: 'here comes Barbie again'… I tried to laugh it off."

Jess shrugged, then continued. "And then, there was this one morning at the lab. Frank's regular lab partner was sick that day and Anna and I volunteered to work with him that morning. I thought, if we just showed him that we were normal students, he eventually might come around. Frank first tried to refuse, but the lab was short one work station due to an unfortunate accident with electronic wiring that had led to a minor fire. So Frank didn't have a choice. It was horrible!"

Becker could feel Jess tense up in his arms.

"What happened?" Becker asked carefully.

"Every single time I made a suggestion how to solve a problem or tried to type any code, he'd interrupt me, correcting me and pushing me away from the keyboard. Anna managed to get a few words in every now and then, but I doubt he really listened to what she said. Frank just completely took control of our lab station and wouldn't let us handle anything. When it was obvious that he had made a mistake with an algorithm, I pointed this out to him and he went crazy. He didn't even let me finish my phrases. He said that I didn't belong here and would never find a job, let alone have a career in the IT business. That I'd be better off leaving Uni and becoming a hair dresser. Or whatever girls do for a job.

Becker's eyebrows shot up. "What the hell…?"

"When it was time to present the results of our lab session, it was of course Frank who did the presentation and when he reached the point about the algorithm, of course his error was commented upon by our professor. Frank listened to the comment stony-faced and continued with the presentation. Due to the error, we didn't get full marks for our work and when the class was over, Frank stormed out of the room without saying a word.

"He never talked to me again." Jess said slowly. "But he didn't leave me alone...Well, at least, I think it was him…"

Becker gave her a confused look.

Jess caught the look and began to explain, "Two days after the disastrous lab, my phone rang randomly and there was just silence at the other end. First it was only during the day, but then the frequency of the calls increased and they occurred in the middle of the night as well. I was getting worried, but it was never the same phone number and the numbers were as random as the times I received these anonymous calls.

Then I arrived one morning for my courses and found that someone had left obscene graffiti inside my locker. I informed the dean's office about it and they took the incident very seriously."

"Did they take any measures?" Becker frowned at the idea that someone who obviously terrorised Jess would go unpunished.

"When I was questioned, I did mention Frank's outburst at the lab and Anna confirmed my statement. Some of the other students had noticed Frank's comments towards me and Anna as well., but there was no way of proving it was him. There were no surveillance camera recordings, no traces of him having gone near my locker. They just couldn't prove it was him."

"So he got away with it?" Becker said in a disillusioned tone and pulled Jess closer to him. She looked down at her hands that were nervously kneading the hem of her skirt. They remained both quiet for a moment and Becker couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else that haunted her. He put his hand atop her fiddling fingers in an attempt to calm her down.

Jess sighed and then looked at him. "He did get away with it." she said matter-of-factly in a feeble attempt to appear calm, but her eyes brimming with tears gave away her emotions.

Becker suddenly realised that Jess hadn't told him all of it. "Were there more incidents?" he asked her carefully, his voice full of worry.

Jess nodded, tears running down her cheeks. "At university, he stayed away from me. And when he couldn't avoid being near me, like during lab, he ignored me. But once, I caught him staring at me when he thought I didn't notice. His eyes were cold and full of hate. It only lasted a split second, but it sent shivers down my spine, like someone had walked over my grave.

For a while there were no more incidents, the phone calls had stopped and then, one night, Anna and I were alone at the house we shared with a couple of other students. Around two in the morning, I woke up in my bed, startled. I felt like someone was watching me out of one of the dark corners in my bedroom. When I flicked on the light, nobody was there. I even got up and checked my window, but it was shut tight as it was a very cold night.

It took a while for me to calm down. I went back to bed and cuddled up with my cat Pirate - he always slept on my bed next to my pillow. I somehow managed to fall asleep again, but then all of a sudden, the anxious meowing of Pirate woke me up. My room was full of smoke and I could hardly breathe. The light didn't work anymore, so I got out of bed, put my hands forward and blindly tried to feel where I was going alongside my bed, finally reaching for the doorknob. It was blocked. I never lock my door, so I didn't understand why I couldn't open it.

I noticed that the smoke in the room seemed to come through from under the door. My room was on the top floor of the house. I started to panic and threw myself against the door, but to no avail. The hot smoke filled my lungs and I was terrified I would lose consciousness any moment."

Becker's eyes widened and he pressed Jess against his chest, wrapping his arms around her protectively, as if to put himself as a shield between her and her gruesome memories. Still, she kept unfolding the events of the night.

"Just when I started to lose orientation and coughed so hard that my lungs hurt, the door in front of me flew open and Anna was standing on the threshold, grabbing my arm and shouting 'Get out! The house is on fire!

I couldn't see Pirate anywhere nor could I hear him meowing anymore. I told Anna that we had to find him, that he was somewhere in my bedroom, scared, and that we had to get him out as well. But Anna pulled me with her, yelling that there was no time and that the stairs had already caught fire. Our only way out was through Anna's bedroom window. We barely made it. We climbed on the window ledge and grabbed a hold of the rain drain. Half climbing down, half sliding, we made it into the back garden. "

Jess was sobbing now, burying her face in Becker's tactical vest. He held her tight, gently running a hand up and down her shaking back.

"And Pirate?"

"I never saw him again. When the fire fighters arrived, they looked for him, but couldn't find him. I don't think he…"

Jess swallowed heavily, leaving the phrase unfinished, unable to continue.

"He was a present from my parents when I moved away to go to Uni. He was the cutest kitten I had ever seen. He had black and white fur, a rose nose and the loudest purr I had ever heard from a kitten. His face was white, but over his left eye, he had a big black spot that looked like an eye patch of a pirate. And that's why I named him Pirate. He loved to steal crisps out of the package and he could sneak up behind you without making any sound. And it drove me insane how he always wanted to walk across the keyboard of my laptop. As soon as I got home every day, he would follow me around the house and try to sit next to me, watching all my activities. And now he's gone!"

"I am sure he managed to get out, Jess!"

Jess pulled her face out of Becker's tactical vest and tears streaming down her face, she looked at him.

"You really believe this?"

Becker put both hands on her cheeks and, gently rubbing away the tears, he said with as much conviction as he was able to put in his voice "I am sure of it, Jess!" He wasn't sure whether he had been convincing enough, so he handed her a handkerchief and asked with a small smile "tell me more about Pirate!"

Jess blew her nose and leaned back into Becker's shoulder. He put his arm around her and listened to her voice as she was talking about her cat.

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><p><strong>So there you go! <strong>

**In the next chapter, the question will be raised why none of the stalking was mentioned in Jess' personal file. And where is bad boy Frank? **

**I won't make any promises as to when the next chapter will be ready. I can only say that I am fiercely determined to continue this story. **

**Thank you very much for reading (and reviewing, hopefully! :-) )**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N 1: **

**Well, it's been a couple of weeks (...months!) *Hangs head in shame* But I managed to finish this during the heatwave that baked my little country over the weekend! There is a lot of talking and explaining in this chapter. I guess it was too hot to write action scenes...just lifting the pen felt like an action scene in itself ;-) But fear not - there will be action aplenty in the upcoming chapters.**

**This chapter hasn't been beta-read. All mistakes are genuinely mine! I will blame the heat though!**

**Big, big thanks go to all of you who have patiently followed, favourited and reviewed this story and encouraged me to continue. YOU are ALL FABULOUS, LOVELY people!**

**A/N 2:**

**Primeval is not mine! I just borrow to play. Don't sue!**

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><p>Chapter 11<p>

It had been an exhausting day, Lester thought, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly between his thumb and index finger. And despite the late hour, it wasn't over yet. He sighed as he realised that he wouldn't leave the ARC until way after midnight possibly.

The marathon budget meeting with the Minister had proven to be as tricky and tiresome as Lester had expected. He had managed skilfully and yet subtly to dodge most of the budget cuts the Minister's team had presented the Head of the ARC with.

Lester just shrugged, thinking back to that moment when Milton, the Minister's chief accountant gravely looking at him: "In these dire economic times, it is our duty as a responsible government to make the necessary budgetary sacrifices…" The voice of the bureaucrat had sounded bumptious and Lester briefly wondered what he would sound like, were there some future predators to disrupt their budget negotiations. What a twat! The man clearly had no idea what it cost to operate a menagerie full of prehistoric creatures!

Lester straightened his dark purple silk tie and adjusted his cuffs. His hand-tailored navy blue suit fit impeccably, as usual. At some point he would have to tell Abby that the planned extension of the menagerie with an outdoor area for their herbivores was not going to happen. But that could certainly wait until she was out of medical bay and no longer at risk of losing her baby.

Nor would Becker get his tank. But all in all, the meeting could have gone much worse. None of the funds for research, technology or weaponry were cut. Although Lester knew they were understaffed, he also knew there was no way the Minister would let himself get talked into raising their number of staff. He had fought tooth and claw to protect the ARC against budgetary cuts, but extensions were a different story.

Lester considered the benefits of a nice glass of whiskey for a brief moment, but reasonably decided against it! His long day wasn't over yet. Jess Parker was still locked up in an arrest cell, much to his annoyance. And it affected the team greatly. Connor was hiding away in his lab. Matt and Emily were nowhere to be seen and Becker…Lester sighed deeply. Earlier, the Captain looked like a caged tiger, ready to rip off the head of anyone foolish enough to get near him.

'Let's get that mess cleared up' he thought, got up and walked through his glass office door and down into OPS.

~oOo~

It was with a great deal of regret that Becker finally left Jess behind in her arrest cell. He didn't like leaving her, but he knew Lester was going to be back and this whole situation needed to be straightened out, the sooner the better.

Before talking to Lester, Becker needed to see Connor. As much as Becker hoped he was on the right track, he wanted to be sure about it and the best way for this was to rely on Connor's considerable computing skills.

He went to the staff's break room and opened the door. Emily was busy pouring herself a cup of tea. Turning her head around when she heard the door, she saw Becker look around the room, his face unreadable as usual. He looked exhausted, though.

"Would you like a cuppa?" she said, lifting her own tea invitingly.

Becker glanced at her briefly. He really didn't feel like another lecture about his love life. The whole situation was stressful enough without him having to confront Emily twice in the same day. And he wasn't looking forward to discussing the meaning of duty and order with her, yet again.

But having the entire team in disarray and fighting, when there was a psycho out there threatening Jess, was a crucial mistake they couldn't afford

As Emily was still waiting for his answer, Becker decided to approach her.

"Thank you."

~oOo~

"So, how is Jess?" Abby asked after lifting a forkful of mashed potatoes with gravy off her plate and carefully putting it in her mouth. Although the head end of her bed was elevated in order to allow her a comfortable meal in bed, she still found it tricky to eat in bed without spilling anything or ending up with a sheet full of crumbs.

Connor was sat next to her on a metal chair, slowly munching a sandwich. Becker was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He'd dropped in a few moments ago, after a quick visit with Lampard.

The injured soldier was asleep when Becker arrived, still looking pale, but his vital signs were steady and much stronger than in the morning. The medic told Becker that Lampard had regained consciousness briefly around noon. He had lost 3 toes in the incident with the runners, but luckily his foot could be saved.

Becker hesitated and quickly looked at Connor. He wasn't sure how much Abby knew about the recent events, and he clearly remembered Doctor Burns' advice to spare her any further stress.

After Connor gave him an affirmative sign to continue, Becker said "Emily is with her at the moment."

"And is she going to be fine?" Abby tried to keep her voice free of accusation, but Becker still took the hint.

He still felt raw. Guilty. He had lost Terry and Lampard was still in medical bay. Jess was still in the arrest cell. And Frank was out there, somewhere, determined to hurt her. What would his next move be?

Becker hated to fight invisible enemies. He preferred direct combat. But he was given no choice. He would do anything in his power to protect Jess. Anything.

"Yes, she will be fine" Becker said and the tone of his voice left no doubt that this was nothing less than a promise.

Abby shared a look with Connor. They were both unsurprised to find Becker go to instant protection mode when one of the team member's safety was at risk. And when the team member in question was Jess, Becker's reaction would be even more vehement.

As if he had read their thoughts, Becker pushed himself off the wall. "Well, I'm going to do some work now. Connor, I'll meet you at your lab in half an hour. I need you to confirm some information."

"Sure mate, I'll be there" Connor said, taking another bite of his sandwich. With a short nod towards the couple, Becker left.

"That was rather cryptic" Connor mumbled.

"That was rather Becker" Abby smirked. "I'm sure this information he wants you to check out has to do with this psycho who is after Jess."

~oOo~

When Lester opened the door to Connor's lab, he found him and Captain Becker bent over a considerable amount of printouts scattered all over the work table.

"Becker, what is this urgent message you sent me all about?" And after a quick look around the room, he added "Good God, Connor, how can you get any work done in this mess?"

Ignoring Lester's cranky mood, Becker started speaking.

"Jess had been bullied at university by a fellow student. A man called Frank Sinclair. A brilliant mind, highly talented in IT, but also a misogynist with criminal tendencies. He might be responsible for arson at Jess' former home. It was sheer luck that she and her roommate were able to escape the fire and not perish. This incident happened during her last year at Uni.

A few weeks after the fire, he disappeared. He seems to literally have vanished from the surface of the earth. There is no death record for the Frank Sinclair in question, but that is about it. No address, no job record, no income tax declaration. No credit card record. Nothing."

"He lives under a different identity?" Lester pondered.

"I'm afraid that is the logical conclusion" said Connor. "There is more, though. Some of the manipulations our systems suffered lead me to believe that someone tinkered with them directly."

"We have reason to believe that Sinclair does have access to the ARC. Not just remotely, by controlling our systems, but also physical access" Becker said slowly. And if we believe, and _I_ certainly do, that Jess is _not_ using any drugs, then who put the powder in her locker?"

Lester frowned at his Head of Security. "And how did he manage that? I thought the security of this place was impeccable?"

"Absolute security doesn't exist" Connor interjected.

"So, how did he get in? All employees of the ARC have undergone a profound security check. They wear ID-bracelets that won't work if stolen or forged. And as far as I'm informed, there was no attempt of a forced entry and the ventilation shafts …, since you and Quinn had that little abseiling adventure, oh well…"

Lester paused and looked at Connor and Becker for an answer.

"I think he might have gained access posing as a delivery person, a cleaner, a repair man, someone like that" Becker speculated.

Lester rubbed the back of his nose again and sighed. "Did we hear back from the lab about that powder?"

"Baxter phoned earlier. Their analysis found it to be cocaine." Becker stated.

Lester pondered the information he was just given. "Very well! I want Matt and Emily to join us in my office in 5 minutes. And Becker, get Jess out of that cell now and bring her back to my office."

~oOo~

When they arrived at Lester' office, Becker had made sure Jess was given enough time to freshen up and remove the mascara streaks under her eyes. With almost no make-up remaining, Jess looked very young and vulnerable.

Becker gave her a short but encouraging smile before Jess sat down next to Emily. Becker stood close to Jess, with one hand on the back of her chair. Connor was typing on his laptop when Lester and Matt entered the office together.

Lester took seat behind his impressive desk.

"As I'm sure everyone has been informed of the current situation, let's deal with the facts. Becker and Connor have spent the better part of the evening to find out more about Frank Sinclair. We know that he left university a few weeks before graduation and he seems to have disappeared since then. Did you find any additional information regarding the fire at Jess' house?"

Connor looked up from his laptop.

"I was able to get a hold of the police report. During their investigation, the police came to the conclusion that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning boiler.

Although initially, it was suspected that the fire could have been caused by arson, the house had been so badly damaged that possible clues as to what had caused the fire were not 'conclusive enough'.

Manipulations on the boiler were impossible to prove, even if they were not fully ruled out. Also the type of boiler used in the house was rather often at the source of domestic fires, according to the insurance company."

"So Sinclair got away with it!" Matt said with an undertone of anger in his voice. "What about the bullying? Surely there must have been some records about it in the university's files?"

Becker shook his head. "The bullying incident was not mentioned in Jess' university file, as she had been the victim and not the offender. I had Jess' name cross-referenced with any incident at university during her entire studying years in his search, but she did really have a clean slate.

Frank's file on the other had mentioned the bullying incident, and Anna's name was mentioned, but not Jess Parker's. As she was still under age at the time of the incident, her name was not mentioned, but anonymised. There was just a reference to a "student A" being involved."

Lester looked over his desk and straight at Jess.

"Why did you never mention this incident?"

Jess fidgeted nervously with her bracelet.

"Frank had just disappeared. He was gone and I never heard or saw of him again. I was just glad he was gone and honestly thought it was over!

Also, I hadn't done anything wrong. There was no misdemeanour on my part. I was the victim of a bully when I was a student. I didn't think it had anything to do with working as a Field Co-ordinator. Would you have hired me, if you thought, I was some victim, who needed protecting?"

"I hired you because you are the best Field Co-ordinator there is." Lester says, trying very carefully to keep his face emotionless.

"Are there any hints regarding who put the cocaine in the locker?" he continued.

Becker folded his arms across his chest. "I have been over the security footage and there is no-one except Jess approaching and opening her locker.

However, if this bloke is just half as good with computers as Jess is, then he surely could have altered the footage or deleted incriminating parts."

Jess spoke up for the first time since she entered Lester's office.

"I would like to volunteer a hair sample in order to prove that I'm not consuming drugs. You will have certainty that I am clean." Her voice was low, but carried noticeable determination.

"Very well! As Sinclair's whereabouts are still unknown, and given the highly disturbed state the man is in, we need to work fast. I'm afraid we all are going to spend the night at the ARC."

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><p><strong>AN 3: I hope someone phones the pizza delivery service, so at least they get to eat while working through the night! On the other hand, it might be evil Frank showing up instead of the pizza guy...**

**Sooooo, I hope that wasn't too confusing. **

**Reviews are always welcome! The help me getting better at this!**


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